Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

'Possessed' Bangladeshi headteacher arrested over child rapes

Bangladeshi police have arrested a religious school's principal for allegedly raping at least a dozen children under his care, an official said Friday (5), sparking demonstrations by hundreds of people.

Al Amin, the head teacher and founder of the Baitul Huda Cadet Madrassa at Fatulla outside Dhaka, claimed innocence, saying he was "possessed by Satan".


Madrassas are religious institutions that provide everything from basic Koran-based education to graduate-level religious studies.

Elite police from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the teacher on Thursday after the mother of a 10-year-old student filed a rape complaint against him.

Local RAB chief Lieutenant Colonel Kazi Samser Uddin said the young girl watched a TV news report on serious sexual assault and told her mother that the seminary founder "did the same to her".

"The mother immediately rushed to us with the complaint. Then we arrested the principal," Uddin told AFP.

The teacher later admitted he forcibly had sexual intercourse with several of his minor students.

"We found he raped and sexually assaulted at least 12 girls in the madrassa," Uddin said.

Hundreds of local people protested in the town demanding justice and exemplary punishment of the principal, who is also an imam of a local mosque.

The police also last week arrested two high school teachers at a nearby town for allegedly raping 20 students.

Uddin said those teachers have been blackmailing and raping the victims and some of their mothers for the last four years.

Rights groups raised concerns about the spike in the number of rape and sexual assaults in the Muslim-majority South Asian nation.

The Manusher Jonno Foundation, a local rights group, published a report early this year saying 433 children were raped in 2018. Most were aged between seven and 12, it said.

Rights groups said "a culture of impunity" is partly to blame for what they say is a rise in sexual violence in the country.

According to Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, a women's rights group, only three percent of rape cases end in convictions.

The latest arrest came months after another madrassa head teacher was arrested over the April murder of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 19, burned to death by attackers on the rooftop of her seminary.

The murder shook the nation of 165 million people after a police probe found that Rafi was murdered at the order of the madrassa principal after she refused to withdraw a sexual assault charge filed with the police against her seminary head.

Rafi's death received widespread media attention, and 16 men were arrested and are being tried for the killing. They face the death penalty.

More For You

Leicester drug supplier Sarju Khushal jailed for 11 years over £2m operation

Sarju Khushal

Leicester drug supplier Sarju Khushal jailed for 11 years over £2m operation

A MAN who supplied controlled drugs on a ‘wholesale’ scale across Leicestershire has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. Sarju Khushal, 30, was arrested in 2022 after investigations revealed he had been transporting drugs from Lancashire into the area.

Khushal, formerly of Hazeldene Road, Leicester, pleaded guilty to several charges, including the supply and conspiracy to supply class A drugs. He was sentenced at Leicester crown court last Thursday (6).

Keep ReadingShow less
Tamil Nadu Education

Tamil, one of the oldest living languages in the world, is a source of pride for the state’s people

Getty images

Education or imposition? Tamil Nadu battles India government over Hindi in schools

A war of words has erupted between Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister MK Stalin and the federal government over the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recommends a three-language formula in schools, with two of the three being native to India. Stalin has voiced strong objections, claiming that the policy could lead to the imposition of Hindi, a northern Indian language, in non-Hindi-speaking states like Tamil Nadu. The issue has reignited old tensions between southern states and the central government over the privileging of Hindi.

Historical resistance to Hindi

Tamil Nadu has a deep-rooted history of opposing the promotion of Hindi, dating back to the 1960s. Protests broke out in the state when the federal government attempted to make Hindi the sole official language, leading to a compromise that allowed the continued use of English. Language in Tamil Nadu is not merely a means of communication but a powerful symbol of cultural identity. Tamil, one of the oldest living languages in the world, is a source of pride for the state’s people. As a result, any perceived threat to its prominence is met with strong resistance.

Keep ReadingShow less
Former Bristol MP Thangam Debbonaire enters House of Lords as Baroness

Thangam Debbonaire

Former Bristol MP Thangam Debbonaire enters House of Lords as Baroness

FORMER Bristol MP Thangam Debbonaire has taken her seat in the House of Lords after being awarded a life peerage last month.

The 58-year-old, who represented Bristol West for Labour from 2015 until July’s general election, wore the traditional scarlet robes during her introductory ceremony. She will now be known as Baroness Debbonaire of De Beauvoir Town in the London Borough of Hackney.

Keep ReadingShow less
Samir Shah: BBC must do more to reflect UK's diversity
Dr Samir Shah

Samir Shah: BBC must do more to reflect UK's diversity

BBC chairman Samir Shah insisted that the corporation must do much more to ensure its staff reflects the country as a whole, as it needs more 'variety and diversity'.

He added that diversity should not be limited to ethnicity, where progress has been made, but should also include diversity of thought, particularly by including more voices from the northern working class.

Keep ReadingShow less